Author name: ken.brodabahm

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Before a recent jury selection, I was digging through a stack of juror questionnaires and social media results when something we’ve been seeing for awhile came into clearer view: The conservatives in the pool were falling into some strikingly different camps. More specifically, some were the traditional pro-law, pro-institution, pro-corporation tight Republican […]

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Maybe a named party to a case settled out before trial, maybe they’re immune from suit, or maybe they were handled during a different part of the process — but all the jurors know is that a missing party might be partially at fault, and they aren’t there in the

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If we rewind to about two years ago, as we were getting confirmations of a novel virus in China, few of us at the time would have had the imagination to envision the scope of disruption and devastation that would follow in what is, for now, the next two years. The

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In liability cases against physicians and other professionals, the plaintiffs work very hard to frame liability as a clear cut-and-dried mistake: The professional did something that wasn’t allowed, or failed to do something that was required. The simplicity of this approach, enshrined in the “Reptile” and “Rules of the Road”

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Jurors are often put in the position of assessing the probability or risk of something at the time a decision was made, before the consequences can be known. “How likely is it that a given result will be the outcome from a behavior?” is a rational question, and there may

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Courts over the past year and a half have moved with unprecedented speed into unorthodox territory, exploring ways to conduct trials, or portions of trials, via remote videoconferencing technology. In that setting, perhaps it was only a matter of time before a case would be overturned on appeal due to

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It qualifies as a best practice: If you can make it visual, then you should make it visual. When presenting to a jury or a judge, the goal of developing trial graphics to supplement your message should be driven, not by necessity, but by opportunity. The question isn’t whether you

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When you’re dealing with testimony, argument, or any other form of communication, it is easy to assume that you’re getting less when it is distanced. In a remote conference or any Zoom-like experience, it seems that the literal distance and the technological disconnect leads to less of an impression, including

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The persisting pandemic has brought with it more adventures in technology. Courts have seen an increased use of remote testimony and oral argument, and even fully remote trials. When it is done well, it can be surprisingly effective in capturing a lot of the value of the in-person legal process, while also potentially improving